Christmas Cheer!

We have thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas season this year! This photo shows us participating in a fun sing-along at the ESA in SLC. My Dad got there early and saved us ten seats on the front row, only my Dad would be bold enough to fight off those crowds all by himself (ok maybe Spencer too). We had lots of fun singing and eating free hot dogs with Clint and my parents.

We love beautiful Christmas decorations!  Peter has been pointing and shouting, "pretty" everywhere he sees Christmas lights all month.

After the sing-along, my parents came with us to see the beautiful lights at Temple Square. 

We love visiting the gorgeous temple grounds every year.  This December we've also enjoyed going to the John Schmidt concert and the Forgotten Carols with Spencer's family--They were fabulous, thanks Val and Joyce!

Talmage and Leia performed in their school's Christmas Program.  There were way too many people at the performance (the Fire Captain even came and made some people leave to clear the walkways), but Talmage and Leia gave a nice performance.  We especially enjoyed when Talmage took off his Santa hat and used it as a puppet to sing a few songs.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Every December we like to act out the Chritmas story with our kids.  We usually have a challenging time staying focused on the story, but this year was especially exciting. Leia was, of course, Mary. Peter was Joseph because Talmage really wanted to be the donkey. Ammon ended up having a dual roll of shepherd and wiseman.

The story started nicely with Grandpa reading from Luke, Joseph leading the donkey with Mary on its back, and the wonderful angel bringing glad tidings (I was the angel, of course).  But for some reason, halfway to Bethlehem Joseph started trying to bite the donkey, so it was a very bumpy ride for Mary.  Once they arrived in the stable, the donkey had to take over reading from the scriptures because he couldn't stop wrestling with the shepherd.  In the end, it was quite evident that Mary and Joseph both loved the newborn babe as they tugged and fought over who got to hold the child.  The Christmas story becomes more and more interesting each year in our family.

Frozen Fun!

Our kids were very excited to look out the window and see the winter wonderland yesterday.  Talmage and Leia got out all the snow clothes and dressed themselves, and Ammon and Peter too.  It usually takes twice as long to get everyone bundled as it does for the kids to play out in the snow, and yesterday was no exception.  They enjoyed the fluffy powder and then were happy to come inside and warm up with chicken-noodle soup and hot chocolate.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

We enjoyed  a wonderful Thanksgiving day at my parents' house this year.  The dinner was delicious, the weather was beautiful, and the kids enjoyed playing in the back yard with Grandpa Collier.  Later in the afternoon, we even got to play some volleyball with friends and family at a nearby church.  A perfect day!